Structural issues at Barton House were flagged to Bristol City Council in August 2022

Structural issues at Barton House were flagged to Bristol City Council in August 2022 over a year before the evacuation.

Council staff decided the risks detailed in a report “could be mitigated”, but then last November engineers reviewed the report and sounded the alarm.

The government wrote a letter to councils in 2017 urging them to check their large-panel system buildings, after large cracks appeared on tower blocks in London built in the same way. The council commissioned a report into Barton House and other LPS buildings.

But the council didn’t receive this report until August 2022, when staff decided that the risks at Barton House could be managed. Arup, an engineering consultancy, then conducted a peer-review of the survey in November last year — and came to a very different conclusion.

A written response to a public question at a full council meeting on January 9 revealed the new information showing that the council knew about structural issues at Barton House, but chose not to evacuate the tower block until well over a year later.

The response said: “We remain in conversation with the government about their 2017 letter and the actions taken since. Different kinds of surveys have been undertaken at Barton House and other high-rise blocks since that time, with the information on each acted on to deliver improvements where necessary.

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“The council commissioned a structural survey of Barton House and other LPS, or LPS-similar constructed buildings, following receipt of the 2017 letter from the government on the safety of large panel system buildings. This report was received in August 2022. This report flagged structural issues at Barton House.

“On receipt of the report, Bristol officers determined that the risks presented could be mitigated. Indeed, at the time there were already mitigations in place, including no piped gas supply to flats and a waking watch in place. In November 2023, this report was peer-reviewed by Arup which significantly escalated the structural risks at Barton House.”

A freedom of information request for the report has been refused. The council said it will be published online once the final report from the latest building survey has been completed.

Barton House, a 14-storey tower block in Barton Hill, was evacuated in November last year, after council bosses were told a fire in a single flat could lead to the building collapsing. Residents have been told they can return home in February, after repairs are carried out.

The council was asked to comment.